we talked about all sorts of things like afghanistan. other such places. you saw the soldiers yesterday and i asked david plouffe, desperately asking their commander, admiral mullin, whether they will get paid. and he said i can't tell you. >> i can. i can tell them. here's what i would have said, i would have said, not only are you going to get paid. admiral mullin said the number one national security issue facing this s untry is debt. and i wish we would have followed on with what we said. if you believe we're so far in debt, we'll become a weak country and can't afford to defend ourselves, i would have told the marines, you are going to get paid but, by god, change the reason your children don't have the american dream. young man, we'll pay you, but we'll change washington so your country doesn't become weak and ineffective and have more debt than your children can afford to pay. that's what i would have told them. >> you must also worry about the way the world is seeing this country right now. i mean -- >> i'm not worried about democracy. >> they say